The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts Chapter 19, verses 35 through 41.

Tony Clark: Please don't underestimate the power of the Gospel. Please don't think that the Gospel message has lost its power going into 2020. It is still just as potent as it's always been. This is the power of the Gospel that we're to preach to this world.

It's amazing how the power of the Gospel message—no one worships Diana today, but millions worship Jesus. This is a beautiful thing for us to see. Notice how you never read of the Ephesian believers out picketing in front of the Temple of Diana nor holding rallies to put an end to this false religion. They simply preached the Gospel to them, and when they were born again, they put away their idols.

It was just like what First Thessalonians 1:9 says: they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Once this took place, the people stopped going to the Temple of Diana, and eventually it went into ruins like it is today. If we preach against individual sin, they will argue, they will condemn us, and be full of rage against us.

But if we simply preach the Gospel message—which is Jesus died on the cross for your sin and was buried and rose again, and no longer do you have to carry the weight of your sin because Jesus paid it all—the Holy Spirit will convict them on what they need to turn away from and what is not Christlike in their lives.

Far too long, we as the church, this is where we've blown it. We go out and we preach against individual sin instead of preaching the Gospel. And then when people are arguing, getting mad at us, and rage is in their face because we preach against their individual sin. I was no different than everyone else. I did the same thing.

But when you preach the Gospel and they get saved, then the Holy Spirit's job is to convict them of those things in their lives that are not like Christ. Then they turn away from those things. And they don't have to get mad at you. It was the Holy Spirit's job to convict them, and they turned away. This is what happened in this case.

The city clerk continues in verse 37: "For you have brought these men here who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess." This is huge here. The city clerk turns and rebukes Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen for kicking up all of this mess. I find this fascinating, that the mayor of the city testifies to the Christian character of Paul and his friends.

He said they were neither robbing our temples nor being dishonest by using religion to make themselves rich. When I hear this, I am reminded of what First Timothy 6:5 says: "useless wranglings of men of corrupt mind and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain; from such withdraw yourself."

Paul said when you come across people who are trying to use godliness as a means of making money, trying to use godliness as a means of getting rich, turn away from them. In other words, when you see people trying to use religion, especially Christianity, to make themselves rich, this verse says from such people withdraw yourself. Paul was not doing this in Ephesus.

And this city clerk testified of their character in this area. In other words, the city clerk was saying that Paul and his companions have done nothing wrong. This is the city clerk, an unbeliever, saying this about the Christian. He said neither were they blaspheming our temple nor Diana.

In other words, Paul was not going around speaking against Diana nor of her temple, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. This temple was held up or surrounded by 127 pillars. Each pillar was 60 feet tall. It was a huge, magnificent temple of Diana. Paul wasn't in front of the Temple of Diana picketing and telling people they shouldn't be going in there.

Once again, to win people to Christ, we don't have to preach against their sin. I thought I had to. In my early days, I thought I had to point out what you were doing. I thought that I had to preach against individual sin, which we have done far too long. We're called to preach Christ and Him crucified. First Corinthians 2:2 teaches us to allow the Spirit of God to rebuke them, change them, and show them what is not Christlike in their lives.

For far too long, individual Christians and the church have been people's human Holy Spirit. This is what we've been. Parents, we've done this to our children too. Yes, we are to correct them and to train them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. But for far too long, we've crossed the line and become their Holy Spirit. And no longer do they need the Holy Spirit because we're it.

And we do that to our coworkers. We go around with the smug nose up in the air and we're cocky and we're arrogant, and we wonder why people are turned off so much to Christianity. They're not turned off to Christ. They're turned off to our representation of Him. That's what they're turned off to. For too long we have misrepresented the Lord.

We raise our nose up in the air as we point out their sin and their lifestyle. What do you think the world does? They live like the world. That's what they do. That's what we did when we were out there. We lived like the world. Do we expect the world to act like Christians or to live like Christians? They're not Christians yet.

And so often we treat them like that. Now, who we should be dealing with is in the church. Our leadership is going through First Corinthians. We're in Chapter 5 and we were talking about how Paul said to allow God to judge the world and for you to judge those who are within the church who are calling themselves Christians. Those are the ones you're to judge.

Yes, people, we are to judge those who are in the church, not those outside the church. Paul said for those outside the church, you let God deal with them. But so often, we judge those outside the church, and then those in the church, we just let go when it's backwards. We should let those outside in the world be and deal with those in the church.

On top of that, they were dealing with a guy who was in sin and Paul said deliver such a one to Satan, or remove them from the church, because they will be like leaven that will leaven the whole lump. You remove them from the church. You do that today and folks say, "Deuces, you kick me out of this church, I'll just go down the street to the next one."

This is why the old people used to say when you come to a church, how do you come? By letter. By letter, that means that I'm coming from another church and I was in good standings with that church. That's what it meant to come by letter. What they're saying is that we're not going to let you just come in here and bring your mess. "You came from what church? Did you get kicked out of that church? Give me a letter from that pastor or that leader or something."

That's what that meant. You come by letter, by baptism, by Christian experience. You heard this and you were wondering what's all that about? That's what it was about. So we have some things to square away. And this is why I'm so glad we're teaching verse by verse through the word so we can get taught and get corrected on how we're to conduct ourselves.

Look what it says in verses 38 and 39. It says, "Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you have any other inquiry to make, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly."

The city clerk continues to rebuke the instigators of this riot and Demetrius being the ringleader. He said, "If you have a case against Paul, settle it through the legal system. The courts are open," according to verse 38. And he reminded them that the courts were open and proconsuls, who were the lawyers of the time, were available. In verse 39, he says if they were not available, then this situation should have been decided in a lawful assembly.

Look at verse 40. He says, "For we are in danger of being called into question for today's uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering." And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly. The city clerk was concerned that the news of this riot would get back to Rome, and they, especially him, would have been called into question for this uproar since he was the mayor of the city.

Because there was no reason of which we can give to account for this disorderly gathering, the city clerk took up for the believers. Why? Because Paul and his other believers had an impeccable reputation in the city of Ephesus. This is the kind of reputation we should have in our city so that when people stir up riots against us for our Christian faith, someone can stand up like this city clerk did and testify of our outstanding Christian principles.

This is how we're supposed to live. This also shows us that we're called to be peacemakers and not troublemakers nor instigators. Matthew 5:9 says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." In other words, one of the characteristics of being children of God is that we bring peace everywhere we go.

Jesus came to bring peace between God and man. Isn't this what the angels said on that day Jesus was born? In Luke 2:14, we talked about it on Christmas Eve. They said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men." Or peace will come to those who have embraced that the Savior is born.

Could it be that the reason why you're not a peacemaker but a troublemaker and an instigator is because you have never received peace yourself? Peace with God is found in the one who came to bring peace, Jesus Christ. And when you repent of your sin and believe that Jesus died on the cross and was buried and rose again for you, when you accept Him into your heart by faith, He comes in and makes His home in you. Is Jesus at home in your heart? Is Jesus at home in your life?

This is a question you have to ask yourself because when Jesus is at home in your life, your life will be peaceful. And you will take peace everywhere you go. This is what the word of God teaches. This is what the word of God says. When you experience peace with God, you become a person of peace. Is your life chaotic or is it at peace? Is your life messy and is there a bunch of mess going on in your life? And you know who you are and you know what's going on in your life.

I guarantee you the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, is not there because when He comes in, He comes and makes His home in our hearts and He brings peace with Him. This is the beautiful thing in Romans 5:1. It says, "Therefore, having been justified," that word justified means to be declared innocent. It was a judicial term. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."

And when this happens, we will take peace everywhere we go because peace is not a feeling. Peace is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. And when we invite Him into our hearts by faith, we take Him everywhere we go. And everywhere we go, we'll be looking to bring peace everywhere we go. And this is a beautiful thing, and I love how verse 41: "And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly."

What a contrast of events. An angry mob rushed into the theater, and a quiet, orderly assembly leaves the theater. The city clerk knew that Rome could come and remove him from his position and put the whole city under martial law. And this meant that they would lose their privileges as a free city. The Ephesians knew that if Rome stepped in, they would lose many of the freedoms they enjoyed, so they probably looked at one another and said, "This isn't worth it. I'm out of here." And they walked out.

Let me conclude with this. So we see that the voice of reason prevailed in the city of Ephesus. The city clerk was able to calm the crowd down and dismiss them in an orderly fashion. So look for ways to bring peace everywhere you go. This is who we are. We have the Prince of Peace living in us. And we look to bring peace everywhere we go. Don't look to bring trouble.

It's easy to stir up mess on social media. Sometimes I look at some of your posts and I'm just shaking my head and saying, "Why? This is going to stir up mess. It's not going to bring peace; it's going to stir up some mess." Now, no doubt, we all know that anything Christian we put on there, we have a myriad of people who swear that it's their divine right to comment on it and bring some sort of correction to whatever Christian thing that is there.

I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about stuff that is messy. Back in the day, years ago, I used to write folks privately and say, "Take that down. No, people don't like you. Okay, fine. Take it down. You don't have to put that stuff on there." Now, I don't have time to chase everybody's mess. But don't look to bring trouble. Look to bring peace.

It's easy to be Demetrius, stirring up crowds and making trouble. It's easy, especially during the holidays when family is in town and then you just throw that little thing out there that you know is the elephant in the room. And then next thing you know, everybody's fussing and cussing and carrying on. Just mess. And you sat back like this and just watched the mess take place.

Seek to be like the city clerk, to be the voice of reason. But especially seek to be like Jesus, who came to bring peace on the earth and goodwill towards men. Finally, do you have peace with God? You can leave here today with peace with God. And so we're going to pray and give you an opportunity to have peace with God today. And we're going to definitely do that for you.

And I know you just don't know how this is eternal business that we're dealing with here. People heard a message and now the spirit is trying to rebuke them. And I know many of you have to go and do something. But when all y'all start rushing out, then their attention is looking at y'all leaving. And now they're not dealing with eternal business.

And I know there is a fine line between the two. Let's just try to... especially this service. Even I'm looking up saying, "All these folks going?" So even I'm distracted. And I know folks have to go and you have to do your thing. So I'm trying to see how we can fix this, and I don't know how to fix it. But just know that we all are... I'm struggling. The folks trying to make a decision for Christ, they're struggling because they're looking up at you and saying, "Where are these people going? Maybe I can sneak out too."

And we're trying to do some eternal business. I don't know what the answer is because if you waited and then you supposed to be on your post but you couldn't leave because I put you under the guilt, I don't know how to fix it. I just know folks need to get right with God and need to do some business. For those of you who leave, you're going to feel about this big. You're going to feel like Tom Thumb, about this big.

I know you have to do what you have to do. I don't know. I'm just letting you know I'm struggling. Just having a hard time. But you know, we have to do business with God. This is why we come. We don't come just to sing some good songs, hear a little message, then go back to our lives. We sit under the word of God so we can make adjustments and we can change. So God can work in us.

God spoke because some of you are Demetrius here, and some of you need to be more like the city clerk, or ultimately like Jesus Christ, who brings peace. And there is a situation you know you can bring peace, but fear has filled your heart and you don't want to get involved and you're there and you could bring peace. There are some decisions you have to make.

Some of you here know that you have not repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. You just don't know. There are some folks that you came here with—relatives or friends or coworkers—that have been praying for you for a long time. They finally got you here. And they want to see you surrender your life to Christ. This is what this time is for. The times we had four services, we couldn't do all this; we had to get them in, get them out. But now we have a couple of minutes to do business with God.

So let's pray right now. God, we just pray that Your Spirit would come upon us, Lord. We pray that Your Spirit would guard the word that's been sown in everyone's heart. Lord, I pray that You bind the work of the enemy that would try to distract, that would try to do something negative with the word of God that's been sown in their hearts.

Lord, I pray now that You would draw them to You, Lord. We've been praying for these precious souls here. And if you're here right now and you know that you have never repented of your sin and accepted Christ in your heart, and He's not at home in your heart, if you know if you died right now you're not sure if you would make it to heaven—if that's you, I just want you to lift up your hand.

I just want to pray for you right now. If there is anyone here, just lift up your hand so I can see it. I want to pray for you right now. God bless you. I see that hand. Anyone else? God bless you. I see you, sir. Anyone else? I just want to pray for you. I just want to pray. God bless you. I see you back there. Anyone else? I want to give you that opportunity. Give you that time. Keep praying, folks. There are folks struggling right now. There are folks that are struggling whether to raise their hand or not. Anyone else? I just want you to lift your hand. I just want to pray for you.

Guest (Male): If The Word Made Plain has been a source of inspiration and encouragement to you, why not consider becoming a Word Made Plain giving partner to keep this listener-supported program on the air? As a giving partner, you join forces with Calvary Chapel Newport News's kingdom vision of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can make your tax-deductible gift online at CalvaryNN.org or send your gift of any amount to 15533 Warwick Boulevard, Newport News, Virginia, 23608, and receive a gift from Calvary Chapel Newport News as our thank you. In addition to your financial support, we ask that you pray for The Word Made Plain broadcast, that it touches hearts and generates change in the lives of people around the world. We pray you've been blessed by God's word today and hope you'll tune in next time to hear The Word Made Plain.